Kim Jong-guk, an official from the institute in charge of external affairs, who also attended the interview, said: “(Oil) imports have largely been restricted” as North Korea finds it difficult to transfer money to China or other countries due to financial sanctions, in addition to a decline in the supply.

Reliable data on North Korea are hard to obtain, but the average retail price of petrol last year is believed have been around US$1 per litre.

North Korea, which carried out an unprecedented test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile last week, has been subject to multiple international sanctions. It is banned by the United Nations from testing any nuclear or ballistic missile technology.